1934 FIFA World Cup

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second big soccer tournament called the FIFA World Cup. It took place in Italy from May 27 to June 10, 1934.

For the first time, teams had to qualify to join the World Cup. Thirty-two countries tried, but only sixteen teams played. The winners from 1930, Uruguay, did not play because not many European teams had joined their tournament.

In the final game, Italy won against Czechoslovakia with a score of 2–1. This made Italy the first European team to win the World Cup. The tournament happened when some leaders used sports to show off their power. The special soccer ball used was called the Federale 102 and was made in Italy.

Host selection

Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts

Italy was chosen to host the 1934 FIFA World Cup after meetings by FIFA's leaders. They picked Italy during a meeting in Stockholm on October 9, 1932, instead of Sweden. The Italian government spent a lot of money, Lire 3.5 million, to organize the tournament.

Qualification and participants

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second big soccer tournament where countries played together. It happened in Italy. Because many countries wanted to join, some had to play extra matches, called qualifiers, to see who would be in the main event.

Some important teams did not join. The winners of the last World Cup, Uruguay, did not come because they were unhappy. Teams from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland also did not join at this time.

Even though Italy was hosting, they still had to play in the qualifiers. This was the only time a host country had to do this. Some teams, like Argentina and Brazil, did not have to play qualifiers because other teams dropped out.

List of qualified teams

These 16 teams qualified for the final tournament.

Ten of these teams were playing in their very first World Cup. This included many European teams like Italy, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Austria, Switzerland, and Egypt. Egypt was the first team from Africa to join a World Cup tournament.

Venues

Many fans traveled from other countries to watch the games. About 7,000 fans came from the Netherlands. Around 10,000 fans each came from Austria and Switzerland. This was more fans from other countries than any football tournament before.

Format

The 1934 FIFA World Cup changed its format from the group stage used in the first World Cup. Instead, it used a straight knockout tournament. If a game ended in a tie after ninety minutes, teams played thirty more minutes of extra time. If it was still tied after that, the match was replayed the next day.

Eight strong teams – Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary – were placed in separate parts of the tournament in the first round.

Summary

All eight first-round matches of the 1934 FIFA World Cup started at the same time. The host team, Italy, won strongly, beating the USA 7–1.

This World Cup was special because all the teams that reached the last eight were from Europe. In the quarter-finals, Italy and Spain played a tough match that ended in a draw, so they played again. Italy won the second match and went on to win the tournament. The final was held at the Stadium of the National Fascist Party, where Italy came back to win the World Cup.

Squads

For a list of all teams that played in the 1934 FIFA World Cup, see 1934 FIFA World Cup squads.

Final tournament

The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second big soccer tournament where countries competed. It was held in Italy from May 27 to June 10, 1934. For the first time, teams had to qualify to join the main event.

Round of 16

On May 27, 1934, the first matches began. Games were played in cities like Genoa, Naples, Milan, Rome, Trieste, Bologna, and Turin. Each match had a referee from a different country to keep things fair.

Quarter-finals

The quarter-finals happened on May 31, 1934. More exciting games were played in Bologna, Florence, Milan, and Turin. One match had to be played again on June 1 because it ended in a tie.

Replay

Semi-finals

On June 3, 1934, the semi-finals were held. Two big matches decided which teams would go to the final. These games were in Milan and Rome.

Match for third place

On June 7, 1934, a match was played to decide who would finish third. This game was in Naples.

Final

The final match was on June 10, 1934, in Rome. Thousands of fans watched as the two best teams competed for the championship.

Goalscorers

Oldřich Nejedlý from Czechoslovakia scored the most goals in the tournament, with five. In total, 45 players scored 70 goals, and none of these were own goals.

Players who scored four goals included Edmund Conen from Germany and Angelo Schiavio from Italy.

Three goals were scored by Raimundo Orsi from Italy and Leopold Kielholz from Switzerland.

Two goals were scored by players from several countries, including Johann Horvath from Austria, Bernard Voorhoof from Belgium, Antonín Puč from Czechoslovakia, Abdulrahman Fawzi from Egypt, and several others from Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, and Sweden.

One goal each were scored by players from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.

FIFA retrospective ranking

In 1986, FIFA made a report to rank all teams in the World Cup up to that year. The rankings were based on how well teams did, how they played, and how strong their opponents were. Here are the rankings for the 1934 tournament.